. . >>> romneyversusryan, thedivorce. let's play "hardball." ♪ >>> good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start with mr. romney's divorce. why did he pick paul ryan for his running mate? certainly not for better or worse. mitt spends his days and nights acting as if he's out there all alone, that he never hooked up with ryan in the first place. i get it. romney doesn't want to get dragged down by his political mate's push for getting rid of medicare. he acts like ryan has no hold on him, but it's not the way it works. romney has slowly gotten the word that the voter out there thought the two had things worked out, that romney and ryan were in this thing together. well, they're not. romney is dying. he can't stand being tied to ryan, and all that budget cutting baggage of his. for his part, ryan is feeling the taint of having a running mate who is unwilling to stand with him, unwilling to be his kind of politician. a conviction politician. so trouble in paradise. mitt's dying to be single again, so is ryan. we all know that politics makes strange bedfellows but the wo

york" magazine john heilemann, "the huffington post" washington bureauchiefryangrim,author of "the daily show" liz winsted and "rolling stone" executive editor eric baits. welcome to bizarre world. ramping you for the first debate each candidate is showering praise on the opposition in the hopes of lowering the bar for themselves. paul ryan gushed over president obama's skills on the debate stage. >> president obama is a very -- he's a very gifted speaker. the man's been on the national stage for many years. he's an experienced debater. >> shockingly, senior white house adviser david plouffe had the same feelings about governor mitt romney. >> we'd expect it all along that governor romney will have a good night. he's prepared more than any candidate in history and shown himself to be a good debater through the years. >> even the candidates were tamping down expectations yesterday. >> i don't think anyone would suggest the debates aren't important. i can't tell you how important it will be. i don't know what will happen at the debates. >> governor romney is a good debater. i'm just

. andpaulryanjustnow on the laura engram radio show, saying this about afghanistan. >> that echos also what john mccain said on "morning joe" today. are they trying to change the skubts to get off -- subject to get off 47% and other missteps and perceived problems in their camp or see a real vulnerability here after benghazi in the way that the white house has handled this? >> if they see a real vulnerability andrea, it's not born out in the public data yet. look at all the data, that goes back months and months the one place where president obama has been strong is on foreign policy and his handling of terrorism. you can argue after benghazi and what's happened in the, you know, few weeks since what we've learned, maybe that's weakened somewhat, but i still think that this is an election decided on who do you think has the better skillset to move the economy forward? i think foreign policy matters. clearly look, an op-ed and then paul ryan saying what he said with laura engram is not by accident. it's purposeful. i think they wind up coming back to the economy. >> that is the subject

will understand, and if they do, i get elected. >> reporter: his running mate,paulryan, isalready preparing for his own debate a week away. >> i really believe in the policies that we're providing, we're pursuing. and at the end of the day, i'm just going to go in there and be me. >> reporter: and if you can't control what actually happens in the debate, you certainly control what happens afterwards. the spin already in the planning. ryan's going to be with romney in virginia. the president is staying in colorado for a rally there. veronica? >> tracie, we appreciate it. thank you. >>> nato forces in afghanistan say three international service members and their translator were killed in a suicide bombing in the eastern part of the country this morning. this as the war in afghanistan reached a grim milestone sunday with a death of the 2,000th u.s. service member. nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel has the details. >> reporter: there has been another insider attack, the so-called green on blue attack, when afghan troops attack and kill their american partners. so far, this year, t

h dre read than the polls in the swing states you would really hear aromneyryanpushback against the overall numbers in those battleground states. you don't hear that. i don'thinthey are happy about it. but i think they believe they are running behind and you are seeing stwea to e roey campaign >> today iowa game the first swing state to start the voting for the president of the united states. the polls he showed president obama up eight points in that state. now suffolk university poll shows the president at 46%. thpresident reminded wwa said. >> i have always said that change takes more than one term or more than one president. it takes more than one party. i can't happen if you ite out half the nation before you take office. >> i don't know how ma of you out there will be voting for me. but, i'll be fighting for you no matter what. i'm not fighting to create democratic jobs or republican jobs, i'm fighting to create american js. >> today the obama re-election campaign relsed it's third add hitting ttney r ltand lying about 47% of americans. >> 47% of people will vote for the p

's see if he can do it in a minute ten. >> or he can do what congressmanpaulryandidin the interview with fox news said, i don't have time to finish this out. good grief, people will get bored. i hear people say play up your natural weapons you have, and we know the president has his national weapons and so does mitt romney. what do you see as a high point or something effective for both of them. what are the president's natural weapons going in? >> foreign policy. if you said a couple years ago i'd sit here saying the democratic candidate's strong suit is foreign policy, that would take me by surprise. >> the first debate is domestic policy. >> you're absolutely right. i would stick with the jobs numbers and talk about how we're not where we want to be relatively to 100 thousand plus being gained per month but it's better than an 800,000 job loss. people need to be reminded of the numbers. >> and romney's weapons? >> romney's weapon is still that executive card. bain and all, he has to say i've gotten it done in business. i know the liabilities attached to the profile, tamron, but t

, they have acces to tioc surity system torevahe meet inside restrains thatpaulryanthinksworks but doesn't work for america. this is real questions on voters' mines and that's changed the dynamic of the election and we're seeing great candates on our side with thatessage who are going to win in november. >>nd i massachusetts, republican scott brown has apologized for what some of his aides did in appearing on this video where they were mocking elizabeth warren for her nativemerican heritage. that is apology sfit d ould te ihi campaign? >> certainly it's up to the people of massachusetts to determine that. they have watched this race, they have seen scott brown tell people to take a look at elizabet warren to determine her heritage, which is frankly offensive tome, peoe in maachutts llaket determination. but i will say this. again, we have a race where elizabeth warren is fighting for the values that american families care about, making se we all have an opportunity that our kids all have access to education, that medicare and medicaid are there for our liitwe n thend th t dference in the